Good Country People Literary Analysis

Erika Fuller
“Good Country People” Flannery O’Connor’s dismissal of the outside world allows you to understand more of the symbolic quality of all of the active characters. Even the names she chooses for each character help her to establish their significance in the story. O’Connor uses symbolism, good versus evil and the psychological and physiological problems of the characters to create irony in “Good Country People”. O’Connor also uses Biblical parallels for inspiration to depict events in the story. All of O’Connor’s stories have characters that aren’t your typical run of the mill people; she also uses a lot of symbolism and irony in her characters physical appearances. The story is divided into four distinct sections which helps emphasize the relationships between the four main characters. O’Connor is able to establish subtle parallels between Mrs. Hopewell and Joy/Hulga, and Pointer and Mrs. Freeman by dividing the story into these sections. It also allows her to show the different sides of each character. All of these writing techniques help her establish depth in her story and she uses these techniques in nearly all of her stories. “There is very little going on of consequence in the action plot, but massive movement in the character arc” (Jones). In “Good Country People” O’Connor uses a third person narrator to tell the story of various women. First the narrator introduces two families or very different social stance. Mrs. Hopewell is a widow who lives a life dictated by social accuracy and her daughter Joy/Hulga who only lives with her mother in a physical sense. The name "Hopewell" characterizes both Mrs. Hopewell and her daughter. Both women are individuals who simplistically believe that what they want can be had — although each of them is, in her own way, blind to the world as it really exists. Both women fail to see that the world (because it is a fallen world) is a mixture of good and evil. This misperception leads them to assume that the world is much simpler than it actually is. Since both Hulga and her mother have accepted this false view of reality, each of them "hopes well" to tailor that made up world to meet her own needs; Mrs. Hopewell by living in a world where clichés operate as truth, and Hulga by insisting that there is nothing behind, or beyond, the surface world. Despite the parallels between Mrs. Hopewell and her daughter they have a very feeble relationship. Mrs. Hopewell may sound like she has an accepting compassion for everyone and “would probably sum up her inability to understand her daughter-with-a-Ph.D. by saying, "She's brilliant, but she doesn't have a grain of sense." (CliffNotes.com), but in reality she can’t come to terms with the fact that her daughter is different. She sees Joy/Hulga’s acts of rebellion as annoying, immature pranks done to spite her. In all actuality it is Hulga’s Ph.D. in philosophy that creates a major problem between them. Mrs. Hopewell wants to be able to brag about her daughter like she does Mrs. Freeman’s but doesn’t feel like she can because “You could not say “My daughter is a philosopher.” That was something that had ended with the Greeks and Roman” (O'Connor 268). The way her daughter dresses is also something that drives a wedge between them Mrs. Hopewell thinks that Hulga's wearing "a six-year-old skirt and a yellow sweat shirt with a faded cowboy on a horse embossed on it…Mrs. Hopewell thought it was idiotic and showed simply that she was still a child.” (O'Connor 268). Mrs. Hopewell is angry and embarrassed by her daughter’s behavior, “her name change (from "Joy" to "Hulga") cut such a wound into Mrs. Hopewell that she will never entirely heal” (CliffNotes.com), but ultimately accepts it because her daughter never got to have a “normal good time” (O'Connor 266). Joy/Hulga is in constant contact with a vain but simple-minded mother and an apparently simple-minded but crafty hired woman. At her mother’s failure to understand her, she...

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2. GoodCountryPeople by Flannery O’Connor- parallels between characters IRONY
Hulga/Joy: is a nihilist who changes her name to match how she feels about her appearance, wants to appear invulnerable. Rejects physical world for intellectual world. “she didn’t like dogs or cats or birds or flowers or nature or nice young men. She looked at nice young men as if she could smell their stupidity.” Hulga has rejected joy for herself but has a secret desire for love, tries to hide her vulnerability to this. Thinks she can command and control love because she believes she is superior to “goodcountrypeople”. When she meets Pointer she thinks she can seduce and control him IRONY
Manely Pointer: hides the fact that he has evil intentions and is not innocent behind the bible and lies. Mrs. Hopewell puts blind faith into him as well as Hulga. Although Hulga thinks she can control and seduce him, ironically he ends up seducing her and stealing her leg. “you ain’t so smart. I been believing in nothing ever since I was born!”
Mrs. Hopewell: never looks beneath the surface, simplistic. Is filled with clichés and claims she has a deeper understanding of the nature of people. Optimistic, but empty sayings. “nothing is perfect” this character fails to realize the cliché of her statements which could suggest how little time she spends reflecting on her own beliefs- she also lies...

...The short story “GoodCountryPeople” by Flannery O’Connor reveals that evil comes in many disguises and that it will try to harm believers and even nonbelievers. Manley Pointer’s character serves as evil and is similar to the serpent in the bible. Manley Pointer has crafty evil ways, he is malicious, and deceitful just as the serpent was to Adam and Eve in the Bible. Manley Pointer is introduced as a goodcountry simple young man who is going around selling Bibles. He tries to sell Mrs. Hopewell a bible but she does not buy one, because she has one already so she invites Manley to stay for dinner. As she talks to him she is under the impression that he is a goodcountry person, which she believes is a person who is a person from the country and who is a Christian. He tells Mrs. Hopewell that he has “a heart condition and may not live long” (O’Connor 511). Manley also tells her that “ [h]e wants to devote his life to Christian Service… and become a missionary because he thinks that is the way he can do most for people”(511-512). He even starts to talk nonsense, telling her about how his family is struggling and that he is basically on his own in the world. Everything that comes out of his mouth is sad or is something that makes anyone has pity for him. As soon as he enter the Hopewell’s home evil fills the home. His name, Manley Pointer, is a...

...“GoodCountryPeople” Questions
1) My initial response to the story’s title is that the short story was going to be about a happy family that lived in the country and drama to make the story interesting. At the start, it seemed as if anybody that was from the country were “good” and never did anything wrong throughout their entire life. The story basically begins right after Mrs. Hopewell says, “the reason for her keeping them so long was that they were not trash. They were goodcountrypeople” (185). That’s when I realized that I was completely wrong about what I thought this story was going to be about. Mrs. Hopewell, is the main character, and rents out part of her house to the Freeman’s. Throughout the story, Mrs. Hopewell’s daughter, Joy/Hulga ends up falling in love with a boy. He ends up playing her, and takes her wooden leg away from her, leaving her stranded and alone in a barn. My impression changed by the end of the story, because in the beginning goodcountrypeople were made out to be basically angels that never did anything bad, but by the end the reader realizes that is not the case at all.
2) The relationship between Mrs. Freeman and Mrs. Hopewell is that Mrs. Freeman’s husband works for Mrs. Hopewell and they are friends and every morning they sit and gossip and eat breakfast...

...Hulga in “GoodCountryPeople”
“She looked at young men as if she could smell their stupidity” (638). This exemplifies the attitude of Hulga, the protagonist in “GoodCountryPeople” by Flannery O’Connor. Hulga is a woman who has been dealt a tough hand in life, and lives with disabilities but still maintains a wrongly arrogant front. Hulga has chosen to believe in nothing, thinking that there is no purpose to life. Through her arrogant actions, ignorance and belief in nothing, Hulga is brought to her downfall and shown the inadequacy of her beliefs in the world and herself. (a major theme in O’Connor’s writing.)
O’Connor paints a picture of a woman who thinks she has everything figured out, but her use of irony in the setting shows that things are not as they seem. Hulga’s real name is Joy, which is very ironic considering the description of her by Mrs. Hopewell as a “poor stout girl in her thirties who had never danced a step or had any normal good times” (636). Hulga’s interactions with Mrs. Hopewell are also rife with irony that while she is a woman, her actions appear to be those of a teenager. She stomps around the kitchen unnecessarily, balks at taking a walk with her mother, and refuses to dress in anything but a sweatshirt. The very fact that she is a very educated woman, having obtained a PhD, is telling. She tried to obtain the Ph.D. so she could be...

...her to be an English teacher or a nurse or even a chemical engineer. Mrs. Hopewell was not particularly fond of her daughter at all. This was because Hulga was very unpleasant to be around – she frequently stomped around the house – and she resented the fact that Hulga had changed the name she had bestowed upon her at birth. Hulga was originally named Joy, but she felt that she did not deserve the happy or beautiful name of Joy, so she chose the ugliest, foulest name her mind could muster. Her mother would only refer to her by the name of Joy and refused to call her Hulga.
Mrs. Hopewell loved what she referred to as goodcountrypeople; she thought they were the salt of the earth. That is why she allowed Mr. and Mrs. Freeman and their two daughters to live in their tenant house, even though Mrs. Freeman was a very nosey neighbor. So when a polite, young country gentleman named Manley Pointer came by one day selling bibles, she could never have known that he was in fact the scum of the earth. He took an instant interest in Hulga and quickly accepted the invite to stay for dinner. At dinner Manley did what he was expected to do, which was to talk about the lord, his church, himself, and also of a heart condition that was similar to Hulga’s. Mrs. Hopewell was touched by this young man and extended him an invitation to come back any time he wished, which he kindly accepted. As he was leaving, he stopped to talk to Hulga....

...Shelby Scott
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Explication of Flannery O’Connor: “GoodCountryPeople”
In Flannery O’Connors short story, “GoodCountryPeople,” the main theme is about a southern family and their faith, identity and education. Another key theme in the story is the concept of reality vs. illusion. The story employs irony and symbolism to portray the main character’s nihilism, immaturity and rebelliousness as well as the other character’s traits and personalities.
The short story is about two families residing in Georgia, the Hopewell family and the Freeman family. The Hopewell family contains the main character, Hulga. As a child, Hulga’s leg was shot off in a hunting accident. Ever since then, she has had a prosthetic leg. Her life and identity are based around her insecurity of her wooden leg. She also has a very prideful identity of perceiving herself to be smarter than everyone around because she has earned a Phd in Philosophy.
Flannery O’Conner employs the faith theme as well as the concepts of the reality versus illusion as Hulga interacts with a bible salesman by the name of Manley Pointer. They develop a connection with each other because they both have heart problems. She fantasizes about seducing what she thinks to be an innocent, vulnerable Christian boy. Once they are alone in the loft, Manley turns the tables and ends up seducing Hulga....

...GoodCountryPeople
Flannery O'Connor's “GoodCountryPeople,” is written in third person while using the omniscient narrator to focus on different character's consciousness throughout the story. Therefore, the reader knows what some of the characters are thinking about; so he/she is able to see the irony involved in the story. O’Connor’s use of symbolism in the choice of name is almost of being ironic, and humorous; furthermore much of the irony is implied in the title of the story, “GoodCountryPeople.” Hulga the protagonist of the story is a presumptuous and self-centered character, who has transformed herself to live a life of believing in nothing. However, by the end of the story, Hulga is met with situations that will ultimately change how she views herself and the world.
O’ Connor’s use of name seem to give indications about the personalities of the character, rather than simply being a random name. Hulga, the daughter of Mrs. Hopewell, is named Joy when she is born; Joy loses one of her legs in a hunting accident at the age of ten, and suffers from a heart disease. Hulga’s wooden leg has come to symbolize her, and what she thinks of the world. The leg is an ugly, bulky, horrible thing, much like how Hulga feels about herself. When Joy-Hulga lost her leg, her life took on a new direction, changing from the happy Joy to the ugly and mean...

...characterization is the most prevalent component used for the development of themes in Flannery O?Connor?s satirical short story ?GoodCountryPeople.? O?Connor artistically cultivates character development throughout her story as a means of creating multi-level themes that culminate in allegory. Although the themes are independent of each other, the characters are not; the development of one character is dependent upon the development of another. Each character?s feelings and behavior are influenced by the behavior of the others.
Joy/Hulga, as the story?s main character, is the singly most significant character to the themes of this story. She is characterized as brilliant and academically sophisticated, yet naïve to the feelings and motivations of others. Ironically, Hulga has a Ph.D. in philosophy, yet she has a very narrow view of her world and no insight into other people?s true character. This contrast in Hulga?s character is the topic of one of the story?s themes: academic knowledge is not to be confused with common sense.
O?Connor continues to establish theme through her characterization of Hulga. She describes Hulga as being cynical about the world and the people she knows. The irony here is that she sees these people as being simple ?countrypeople,? she doesn?t see them as they actually are, full of hidden feelings and motivations. She views...